The cure for privilege.

[BainsBane]

100. Refraining from telling them they shouldn't use words

or discuss issues that some white posters don't like. It might also help to refrain from calling grievances about racism "whining and moaning." If more people decided those posters mattered enough to read their posts and reflect on their views--rather than making the issue all about them--that would help.

It would also help if people quit telling African Americans what they should do to overcome racism, how they should talk about racism, or that racism will go away if people simply keep quiet about it. It doesn't help that AAs are told they should be "honored" by racist meals of friend chicken and watermelon. I would prefer to see people refrain from mocking the concerns of those members. I saw one poster tell an AA member she was "out of her element" when she tried to join a thread someone posted wishing away categories of race, the very terms people of color use to describe themselves. They are so used to that kind of treatment, that AA poster actually said she should have know better than to try to join the discussion. Think about that for a minute.

If people stopped claiming that posts acknowledging the existence of white privilege constituted flamebait (while one poster tonight insisted his own denouncing the concept did not constitute flamebait) or that racism is a "settled issue" and shouldn't be discussed on this site. All those are ways in which the perspectives and lives of people of color are delegtimated, and it pisses me off. Just because this site is largely made up of white retirees doesn't mean the rest of us, which includes feminists, don't count or that are concerns amount to flamebait or trolling. The kind of privilege that is particularly destructive on DU is the kind that makes some feel entitled to denounce such discussions as inappropriate for this site, while assuming that what they have to say stands in stark contrast as being entirely legitimate.